With so many eager viewers, companies are jumping at the chance to get involved. New streaming services like Disney+, Apple TV+, and Peacock (NBC) have to compete with the massive subscriber bases of market leaders Netflix (158 million), Amazon Prime (100 million), and Hulu (27 million).

Last year, the number of people worldwide who subscribe to a streaming service (613 million) surpassed the number of people who subscribe to cable television (556 million) for the first time, reports Survey Monkey. More than half of Americans now subscribe to at least one streaming service, and 60% of Americans stream video at least once a week.

Survey Monkey's research made a few things clear: Streaming will be more and more of a part of our daily lives, and it’s going to be a competitive market for the companies trying to get in on it. 

Streaming is addictive — it’s only getting bigger. 

People spend more time watching video on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu now than ever before. 40% of subscribers say they spend more time watching Amazon Prime now than they did a year ago, 38% say they spend more time watching Hulu, and 35% say they spend more time watching Netflix. 

There’s a lot of overlap.

These best streaming services have large, overlapping audiences: 63% of people who stream video use Netflix, 41% use Amazon Prime Video, and 33% use Hulu.

Price plays a key role.

Most streaming subscribers — even those subscribed to more than one service — spend less than $25 per month to stream, while most cable subscribers spend more than $100 every month on their cable."

Disney+, Apple TV+, and Peacock (NBC) are starting off hot.

While people still like to use these top streaming services, more than a quarter say they’re ready to subscribe to another service as well. Before the Disney+ launch in November, for example, 21% of the people surveyed said they’d probably subscribe to Disney+ and 19% said they'd probably subscribe to the new Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ bundle."

What people care about when it comes to streaming video content

Survey Monkey also asked streamers about their preferences. Is it more important to have access to trendy shows or classical favorites? How do people pick one streaming service over another? As it turns out, it’s all about choice. Here were people’s top priorities:

• A variety of TV shows (33%)
• A variety of movies (31%)
• Trendy new TV shows or movies (20%)
• Access to sports (7%)
• Access to news (6%)"

And in terms of payment, almost everyone (62%) would rather pay a flat monthly fee than pay per video/​show (9%). (28% had no preference.)

New streaming services give viewers more options

But the popularity of new options doesn’t mean your old favorites are going anywhere any time soon. Because streaming services cost so much less than cable, many viewers just plan to keep adding them in: While a quarter of streaming subscribers are ready to subscribe to another service, just 11% told us that they’re likely to cancel a current streaming subscription as a result of new competitors like Disney+, Apple TV+, and Peacock (NBC).

The number of households that subscribe to multiple TV streaming services has doubled in the last five years. The trend shows that many people have no problem paying for several services, if they offer different content. 

So maybe it’s not about Disney+ 'challenging' Netflix — it’s about bringing subscribers more options. And as consumers, we all stand to benefit.

26.1% of Americans are Heavy Television Watchers, consuming more than five hours of TV per day, according to AudienceSCAN. However, only 19% get most of their TV programming from OTT streaming services. That can change with the right type of advertising to promote the depth and convenience of streaming services' offerings.

AudienceSCAN data is available for your applications and dashboards through the SalesFuel API. In addition, AdMall contains industry profiles on TV stations and film and video production companies, as well as lead lists at the local level. Media companies, sales reps and agencies can access this data with a subscription to AdMall from SalesFuel.